Runners
Guy
Aylin Carewell
Kinnie Zest
OverEasy
Six Cylinder
Holly Dazzle
Hotkey

The team does some recon on the auction site, with some good face-ing by OE and some matrix and drone support by Kinnie and HK. They get a floorplan and security details for the auction, as well as a list of region codes where the invites went out to. They do some further digging and manage to amass a list of likely candidates for auction invitees based on flight plans cross-referenced with local fixers looking for bodyguards, locations of corp HQ’s, etc. They bribe Zenith to swap out a team he put on bodyguard duty with them, promising their “side” job won’t interfere with their duties to his client.

They meet up with a giant named Eric Talbert, who seems to be some kind of military/govt fixer, and likely a Denver survivor. 6Cyl is going in with him as the lone up close guard (Blackheart Security has tight security around the auction itself) while the rest of the team waits in the van in a secure underground lot near the freight elevator. They maintain comms using code phrases in case they’re being monitored. 6C reports back on various other auction attendants buying things on behalf of MCT, AZT, SpinRad, UniOmni, and others, and makes note of who buys the sword (as well as a tarot card).

The team starts making plans to follow the buyer via different means, when some other runners burst in just at the close of the auction: it’s the other team that got dropped off the job when they bribed Zenith! They blow their way in and fly in using spellcraft and spirit powers. They take out many of the less-armored BH guards on the auction floor but get overwhelmed by reinforcements from the floor below and don’t manage to steal any items. Holly and 6C get back to the auction room to try to secure the sword but a powerful milspec-armored bodyguard (who they guess is Black Lodge based on who he was with) gets it first and fights his way out.

Aylin gets a look at his aura as he flees and it is the first time her Horror-sense has activated- he has some sort of unnatural magic on him. He uses his auction attendant as a human shield to block a grenade shot from Kinnie, and dives off on a wing suit. OE follows in astral, but gets rebuffed by a tumor spirit waiting at the drop zone. The team extracts Talbert with his purchases, and Holly manages to steal some strange reagents from a half-naga who seems to work for DIMR, who is quite upset to find one of their acquisitions missing.

The team gets out of there and safely delivers Talbert with his purchases, before noticing that they’re being pursued. They ditch the pursuers with spellcraft, but almost get KO’ed by a tumor spirit that manifests in the van before Aylin takes it out with the enchanted whip. Everyone gets safely back to the safehouse, but they notice that 6C has a mark on his forehead from the BL guard pommel striking him with sword and worry what that might entail. They report in to Schmidt and she tells them to keep trying to track the sword as she’s worried the BL may be about to make their move. She also tells them to find Agent X asap as she seems to have had some relevant before disappearing. She says a figure known as “The Executioner” has already made multiple assassinations since the auction against BL foes, so they assume this is the guard.

The team spends some time tracking down Agent X, as well as healing up and researching how to counter the tracking ability of the sable blade. They find X’s first safehouse burnt, and do some CSI- it seems like a magical attack, and evidence suggests shedim may have been involved. The team calls in some favors/rep around town and manages to find the 2nd safehouse that X moved to, as well as getting some info she had stored in a floor safe in the first safehouse. They stake out safehouse 2 and see some figures inside, and decide to rush in. OE stays in the van to provide astral support, and gets taken out by some powerful shedim who possess his body as the rest of the team kills the 3 shedim hosts inside, including a possessed Agent X.

Shedim OE grabs the crystal bloodblade and steps out of the van. Holly launches some combat spells, and does some damage as the folks inside patch up from the shootout and try to link Hotkey in to hack the terminal that “X” was using. Holly is shocked to see a massive air spirit drop the Executioner, who glides down and easily slices OE in half, destroying the shedim possessing him, and also coming into possession of the crystal bloodblade himself. He looks up at the wreckage of the safehouse as the team debates what to do: fight or flight? They try to call in backup from STV and Georgetown, but it seems both the Catholics and the Firm are under attack as well- they’re on their own.